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One-Step Synthesis of High-Purity and High-Aspect-Ratio Silver Nanowires by a Solvothermal Process with Mixed Polymer Capping Agents

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Abstract

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) with a high aspect ratio (>2000) have remarkable flexibility and photoelectric properties. Moreover, these nanowires are an important alternative for flexible transparent electrodes because of their significant electrical conductivity and low cost when fabricated into conductive networks on transparent substrates. Most reported AgNWs have low aspect ratios and are accompanied by numerous nanoparticles, which require an additional purification treatment. A one-step synthesis is still challenging for high-purity AgNWs with ultra-high aspect ratios (>2000), thin diameters, and few particle by-products. In this work, we propose a strategy to effectively improve the aspect ratio of AgNWs. We used a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) mixture as the capping agent and explored the effects of mixing PVPs with two different molecular weights: 1,300,000 Da and 40,000 Da. The fabricated AgNWs are highly pure (AgNPs×100 < 0.29 pieces/square micron) with diameters of about 40 nm, an aspect ratio of more than 2000, and a quality factor of 7407.41. Thus, our strategy paves the way for low-cost and large-scale manufacturing of high-purity flexible transparent electronics.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No. 2017ZDJC-18), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 51308447, 51578448), and the Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People's Republic of China (Shan Ren She Han [2016]789).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Hao, Jian Wei, Jiamin Wang, Huan Su, Congmin Qin & Hao Zhang

  2. China West Construction North Co., Ltd, Xi’an, 710063, People’s Republic of China

    Jiamin Wang

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  1. Lei Hao
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  2. Jian Wei
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Correspondence to Jian Wei.

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Hao, L., Wei, J., Wang, J. et al. One-Step Synthesis of High-Purity and High-Aspect-Ratio Silver Nanowires by a Solvothermal Process with Mixed Polymer Capping Agents. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 3216–3225 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-022-09564-0

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